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Kenny’s Westside Pub offers original experience

Kenny’s Westside Pub, which is located on Farmington Road, offers a great selection of food and drinks. The pub is approaching its third year in business. Photo by Sammantha Dellaria.
Kenny’s Westside Pub, which is located on Farmington Road, offers a great selection of food and drinks. The pub is approaching its third year in business. Photo by Sammantha Dellaria.

As Kenny’s Westside Pub approaches its third anniversary, the restaurant aims to continue to provide its customers with an exciting dining experience.

Located at 2016 W. Farmington Rd., Kenny’s Westside opened in 2013 on St. Patrick’s Day, a fitting date for the pub’s discernable Irish theme. The walls, covered with Irish decor and memorabilia, give the pub a warm and fun atmosphere.

Owner Sean Kenny said his decision to open the pub came while he was managing another local bar, when he realized the area needed something that wasn’t just a nightclub.

“[Farmington Road] needed a more chill place with late-night food,” Kenny said. “That was one of my main goals, to bring late-night food to the area.”

The pub’s theme was inspired by the owner’s Irish heritage, and Kenny said he always wanted to own an Irish pub. So, when he opened his restaurant at the age of 27, Kenny said he had a good idea of what he wanted the atmosphere be like.

“I had been, in my head, planning this my entire life,” Kenny said. “I have just always been, even though I didn’t know it, getting ready to do this. So, when I went to [open the pub], it just became super easy to put it all together.”

Kenny’s features a variety of pub foods like burgers, sandwiches, tenderloins and wraps as well as an extensive list of craft beers and whiskies. Kenny said if he thinks a dish is not a “homerun,” it’s not on the menu.

“Everything on the menu is good, and I tell that to everybody that asks me,” Kenny said. “But one of our more famous dishes is our corned beef quesadilla.”

The dish gained notoriety after Alton Brown, a Food Network host, tweeted that the quesadilla was “the best thing [he] had in Peoria” when he visited in February 2015.

On a daily basis, the pub sees a variety of customers. From Bradley students to Peoria mayor Jim Ardis, Kenny’s Westside Pub prides itself on the “melting pot” of customers that eat at the pub.

Additionally, Kenny’s hosts live music four nights a week, including open stage on Wednesdays, acoustic dinner on Thursdays and live music from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The bands and performers playing at Kenny’s offer distinctive and original sounds for pub-goers to listen to, according to Kenny.

“We try to have original music,” Kenny said. “If it is covers, they’re playing blues covers and funk covers that you have never heard before. It is more raw, original music than what other places are offering.”

With a variety of customers, highly praised menu items and live music for entertainment, Kenny’s Westside Pub strives to offer customers a one-of-a-kind experience.

“We transcend stereotypes with being able to bring together multiple different groups of people,” Kenny said.

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